Safety and Driver Assistance Rating:

*Due to lack of NHTSA and IIHS crash testing.

It’s too bad Mercedes-Benz’s longstanding expertise in crash-test performance has yet to be validated by NHTSA or IIHS. In the absence of crash ratings from either agency, we cannot offer a safety rating of our own. That said, the S-class’s available suite of active safety technologies is cutting-edge and, at $2250, affordable, relatively speaking. It’s too bad that the Driver Assistance package, with its adaptive cruise control, automated emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, lane-departure warning, and semi-autonomous self-steering functionality, also requires the $4500 Premium package. In the scheme of things, $6750 isn’t a huge add for a car that boasts a sticker of $97,595, and at least the Premium package includes features that most buyers would want anyway, including massaging front seats, multi-stage heating and ventilation for the front seats, proximity-key access, and a self-parking feature.

Crash Test Results

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the nonprofit, independent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) evaluate vehicles for crashworthiness in the United States. NHTSA assigns cars an overall rating out of five stars. IIHS uses a different set of tests, grades cars on a scale of Good to Poor, and awards the vehicles that perform best across its tests with Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ honors, the latter of which requires that the subject’s automated forward-collision-braking system performs well.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Test Results

2017 Mercedes-Benz S-class

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Test Results

2017 Mercedes-Benz S-class

Small Overlap

Moderate Overlap

Side Impact

Roof Strength

Head Restraints and Seats

Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+?

Not tested

Not tested

Not tested

Not tested

Not tested

Not tested

Airbags, Child Seats, and Spare Tire Location

The only way you could have difficulty fitting a child seat through the S-class’s mile-long rear doors is if you loaded your child into it first—and if that child happened to be adult sized.

Vehicle Tested: 2017 Mercedes-Benz S-class

Active Safety Features

Mercedes-Benz’s active safety features are absolutely worth the money—Premium package add-on and all—because they work, plain and simple. The brand’s radar-based adaptive cruise control is among the best in the business, and its semi-autonomous self-steering function works well and boasts an easy-to-use interface.

The Best and Others to Consider

The Editors' Rating summarizes a vehicle's overall degree of excellence and is determined by our editors, who evaluate hundreds of vehicles every year and consider numerous factors both objective and subjective.

Price Starting at

$90,895

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The S-class has always been synonymous with luxury, and it continues that proud tradition.

The Editors' Rating summarizes a vehicle's overall degree of excellence and is determined by our editors, who evaluate hundreds of vehicles every year and consider numerous factors both objective and subjective.

The Editors' Rating summarizes a vehicle's overall degree of excellence and is determined by our editors, who evaluate hundreds of vehicles every year and consider numerous factors both objective and subjective.

Price Starting at

$116,875

Compare

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